The National Immigrant Justice Comment recently filed a comment in response to a proposed rule by the Department of Justice’s Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR). This proposed rule follows years of litigation by NIJC and partner organizations following a Trump-era rule that sought to overhaul due process for immigrants in immigration court cases and appeals. NIJC is joined by the Brooklyn Defender Services, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, HIAS, Centro Legal de la Raza, and RAICES — all plaintiffs in litigation against EOIR who challenged the Trump final rule on appellate procedures and immigration proceedings. Two federal courts enjoined and stayed the Trump-era rule in 2021, as plaintiffs urged EOIR to protect the due process rights of immigrants and asylum seekers.

NIJC and partner organizations support the Biden administration’s proposed rule, which reverses many of the harmful changes the Trump administration sought to implement. We highlight how the proposed changes are urgently necessary to restore various substantive and due process protections that were eliminated or severely undermined in the Trump rule. We further highlight discrete proposals to improve access to justice for immigrants in immigration court proceedings as EOIR reviews stakeholder comments and moves toward finalization of this rule.

Read NIJC & partner organizations’ Federal Register comment.

Learn more about litigation against the Trump rule here and here.

Azadeh Erfani is a senior policy analyst at the National Immigrant Justice Center.